Manufacture of boots and shoes and stiffeners therefor



navm BAIRD MACDONALD, or LEICESTER, ENGLAND.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAVID -BAIRD MAC- DONALD, subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Leicester, in the county of Leicester, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes and Stiffeners Therefor, of which the following isa specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates to the manufacture of boots and shoes and has particular reference to those wherein a stiffener, such for example as a toe stiffener, containing a spirituous medium is used.

Stiffeners of this kind usually consist of one or more layers of material impregnated with or carrying a stiffening agent, such for example as celluloid, in solution in a solvent of volatile character.

Attendant with the use of such stiffeners there are, ,in some cases, certain disadvantages. For instance, when used in boots or shoes having a toe or upper of what is known as patent leather, it is found that the spirituous medium in 'the stiffener is liable.

to have a detrimental action on the patent leather in that it tends t soften or loosen the enamel. Further, it is also found that the stiffening agent prior to setting, sometimes penetrates to the inside of the work and causes the latter to stick to the last.

The object of the present invention is to overcome these disadvantages, its main purpose being to enable stiffeners of the kind mentioned to be employed without detrimental results in work where the part of the upper, in the region of which the stiffener is to be located, is made of patent i. e. enamelled leather.

The invention consists in interposing between the stiffener and the part to be protected against the action -of the stiffening agent or spirituous medium, a Water soluble colloidal or gelatinous body which is impervious to the solvent used in the stiffener.

For example, I may use for the intended purpose a gelatinous body such as glue, gelatine, casein, albumen (animal or vegetable), gum (such as acacia gum or tragacanth gum), dextrose or the gelatinous solution of Irish moss, linseed, quince seed, starch, wheat or rye flour and the like, all of which are impervious to spirit, petrol, acetone, wood naphtha, benzol and like solvents which when employed in a stiffener as the solvent Specification'of Letters Patent.

Patented May 9, 1922.

Application filed September 15, 19%). Serial No. 410,406.

for the stiffening agent may tend to act upon enamelled leather in such a manner as to unduly soften it and spoil it particularly if it forms the toe cap of a boot or shoe.

It is found that the most convenient manner of practically employing the protective body is to apply the substance used to the outside of the stiffener in the form of a dressing or coating. For instance, if the outer layer ofthe fabric or material of which the stiffener is composed is dressed or coated with a substanoe'such as previously referred to, it will repel the solvent spirits and consequently prevent theirpenetration to the patent leather or to the part of the work which it is desirable to protect.

The interposed colloidal or gelatinous body therefore constitutes a protective guard or shield and is most conveniently employed by appllcation to the appropriate face or to both faces of the stiffener beforethe insertion of the latter into the work for lasting. a 7

Preferably the fabric or material consti tuting the outer layer of the stifiener is coated or dressed on one side with the substance used to form the protective bod and then dried to enable the spirituous sti' ening agent to adhere to the opposite side thereof. The stiffener may be treated in this manner when it-is made, or the protective coating may be applied thereto just prior to the insertion of the stiffener into the work. Or, instead of applying the protective body to the stiffener, a separate layer of fabric or suitable material previously coated or dressed with the protective body may be applied to the stiffener as a covering or may be interposed between the stiffener and the part -to be protected when the stiffener is inserted into the work. v

Another method of applying the protective body is to coat the under surface of the patent leather, or. the inside of the lining, or both with a solution of the protective substance before the stiffener is placed in position so that when the work is lasted the protective coating will be interposed between the stiffener and the part to be protected.

It may be stated that since glue, gelatine, casein, starch, wheat or rye flour, dextrose and gums used alone have a tendency to dry comparatively firm and might consequently make it difficult to last the work, these substances may be kept permanently flexible of glycerine, glucose or certain hygroscopic chemicals such as magnesium Cl1l01'l(l9, 0l' alternatively the surface coated with such substances may be moistened with water before lasting.

What I claim then is 1. In the manufacture of boots and shoes where stiiieners of the kind herein referred to are used, the method of protecting an adjacent part of a boot or shoe against the action of the stiffening agent or of the spirituous medium contained in the stiffener, which consists in interposing between said part and the stiffener a protective guard or shield consisting of a water soluble colloidal body which is impervious to the solvent used in the stifl'ener, substantially as described.

2. In the manufacture of boots and shoes Where stitieners of the kind herein referred to are used, the method of protecting an adjacent part of a boot or shoe against the action of the stiiiening agent or of the spirituous medium contained in the stiffener, which consists in dressing or coating the outside of the stifi'ener with a protective guard or shield consisting of a Water soluble colloidal body which is impervious to the solvent used in the stiffener, substantially as described.

3. For use in the manufacture of boots and shoes, a stiifener of the kind herein referred to said stiffener being coated, dressed or covered on the outside with a protective guard or shield consisting of a water soluble colloidal body which is impervious to the solvent used in the stiffener, substantially as and for the purpose described.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

DA VID BAliRD MACDUNALD. Witnesses:

R. W. C. TAYr/on, GEORGE LEs'rER. 

